# Guarantees of origin Source: https://ordergroup.co/glossary/guarantees-of-origin/ Last updated: 2026-10-10 > Guarantees of origin (GoO) for teams building energy procurement software: issuance, cancellation, 12-month validity and what the system must track. [Energy](https://ordergroup.co/glossary/energy/) 3 min read # Guarantees of origin Also known as: GoO, guarantee of origin, renewable energy guarantees of origin Definition A guarantee of origin (GoO) is an electronic certificate, with a standard size of 1 MWh, that proves to a final customer that a given quantity of energy was produced from renewable sources. It is issued, transferred and canceled in a national registry and traded separately from the energy. Cite this entry Text "Guarantees of origin". Order Group, Software glossary, 10 October 2026. https://ordergroup.co/glossary/guarantees-of-origin/ HTML `Guarantees of origin - Order Group` Reviewed by [Paweł Zieliński](https://ordergroup.co/authors/pawel-zielinski/), Co-founder & Business Owner Last reviewed 10 October 2026 ## How guarantees of origin work Article 19 of the Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001 sets the rules. A guarantee of origin exists so that a supplier can show final customers the share or quantity of renewable energy in its energy mix and in contracts sold as green. Member states issue one at the request of a renewable producer, with a standard size of 1 MWh. Since the 2023 amendment that size may be divided into fractions, as long as each fraction is a multiple of 1 Wh. No more than one guarantee may be issued for each unit of energy. A guarantee is valid for transactions for 12 months after the energy was produced, and any guarantee not canceled expires at the latest 18 months after production. Issuance, transfer and cancellation are electronic and must follow the CEN-EN 16325 standard. A member state may decide not to issue guarantees to producers that receive support from a support scheme. A guarantee goes through three stages. It is issued to the producer, transferred to a trader, supplier or final customer, and canceled for a named beneficiary and period. Only cancellation turns it into a claim: until then it is a tradable certificate, and once canceled it cannot be sold again. In Poland the rules are in Articles 120 to 125a of the Renewable Energy Sources Act. A guarantee of origin is electronic, expressed in MWh, and is the only document that proves renewable origin to a final customer. It carries no property rights and is traded independently of the certificates of origin (świadectwa pochodzenia) of the older support scheme. The President of URE issues it on a producer's application, filed through the distribution or transmission system operator within 30 days of the end of the production covered by the application. Microinstallations cannot apply. The registry is run by a commodity exchange, in practice the Polish Power Exchange (TGE), and a transfer takes effect when it is entered in the registry. A supplier may inform a final customer about origin only after the guarantee has been canceled, and the registry confirms the cancellation within 10 working days. The registry operator also publishes the annual residual mix: the energy left after canceled guarantees are taken out. Guarantees of origin and similar instruments InstrumentPurposeUnitHow it is traded Guarantee of originProves renewable origin to a final customer1 MWh, fractions allowed in EU lawIn a registry, separately from the energyPolish certificate of originSupport scheme for renewable producersMWhOn the exchange, separately from guarantees of originRenewables PPAPurchase of energy directly from a producerMWh under a contractBy contract; guarantees may be transferred with it ## What guarantees of origin mean for your software For a procurement, supply or carbon reporting system, guarantees of origin need their own records next to the energy records. Requirements worth specifying: - Guarantees live in their own ledger. Volume, energy source, plant, country, production period, issuing registry, seller and price are recorded separately from energy contracts and never netted against MWh of delivered energy automatically. - Status drives what the number means. Held, transferred, canceled and expired guarantees count differently, and only canceled ones support a green claim. - The validity clock is tracked. The system should warn before guarantees approach the end of their 12-month transaction window, and stop counting expired ones. - Claims use canceled guarantees matched to a period. A carbon footprint or a green share is calculated from guarantees canceled for that customer and that consumption period, and the uncovered part uses the residual mix, not the national average. - Price data and production periods use different date conventions. Production periods, purchase dates and price dates have to be mapped explicitly, because a shift of one day in price data distorts every report built on it. - Volumes are stored without assuming whole MWh. EU law already allows fractions of 1 MWh, which opens the way to finer matching against consumption. - Guarantees and certificates of origin are different products and need different data models, even when the same team buys both. Writing the specification? Add Guarantees of origin to your requirements checklist Collect the terms your project touches and get their system requirements in one e-mail, ready for an RFP. Fields a guarantee of origin ledger needs FieldWhy it is needed Energy source and production periodA claim must match the technology and the periodPlant, country and issuing registryGuarantees from other countries need recognition by URE in PolandVolume in MWh or a fractionMatched against consumptionSeller and priceProcurement and cost reportingStatus: held, transferred, canceled, expiredOnly canceled guarantees support a claimCancellation beneficiary and periodWho may claim the energy, and for which period ## From our projects Since 2020 we have built a platform for [Enerace](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/enerace-energy-trading-software/), an energy procurement advisory. Guarantees of origin were added to it as a commodity in 2021. The same year we built a carbon footprint module that calculates emissions from the fuel mix of each country and each seller in a given year. In 2025 we added recording of guarantee of origin purchases, the seller of each purchase and a carbon footprint view that presents the data together with guarantees of origin. The same year we fixed wrong date shifts in guarantee of origin price data. From our projects [Enerace - Custom-Made SaaS Web Application for Energy Procurement Advisory How the custom SaaS web application Order Group built for Enerace automates energy procurement advisory and supports buying decisions across Europe.](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/enerace-energy-trading-software/) ## Related terms - [Day-ahead market](https://ordergroup.co/glossary/day-ahead-market/) The day-ahead market is a daily auction in which electricity for each 15-minute period of the next day is bought and sold. In Europe orders close at 12:00 CET and one algorithm sets prices for all coupled bidding zones. - [PPA](https://ordergroup.co/glossary/ppa/) Power purchase agreement A PPA (power purchase agreement) is a contract under which a buyer agrees to purchase electricity directly from a producer on market terms, usually for several years and often from a named wind or solar plant. ## Sources 1. [Directive (EU) 2018/2001 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (consolidated), Article 19](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02018L2001-20240716) - EUR-Lex 2. [Ustawa z dnia 20 lutego 2015 r. o odnawialnych źródłach energii, tekst jednolity Dz.U. 2026 poz. 68, art. 120-125a](https://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU20260000068) - ISAP Sejm RP Paweł Zieliński reviewed this entry. Ask how it applies to your project. [Ask an engineer](https://ordergroup.co/contact-us/) ## FAQ ![Paweł Zieliński](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/Pawel_p3bY6z4.format-webp.webp) Paweł Zieliński Co-founder & Business Owner [Talk to an engineer](https://ordergroup.co/contact-us/) ### Is a guarantee of origin the same as a green certificate? Not in Poland. Certificates of origin belong to the support scheme and carry property rights traded on the exchange. A guarantee of origin carries no property rights, only proves renewable origin to a final customer, and is traded independently. ### How long is a guarantee of origin valid? Under EU law it is valid for transactions for 12 months after production, and a guarantee that is not canceled expires at the latest 18 months after production. In Poland a foreign guarantee recognized by URE is valid for 12 months from the end of production. ### Who can claim renewable energy on the basis of a guarantee? Only the beneficiary for whom the guarantee was canceled, and only for the period stated in the cancellation. In Poland a supplier may inform a customer about origin only after cancellation. ### Can a home solar installation get guarantees of origin in Poland? No. Polish law excludes microinstallations from applying for guarantees of origin, so they are issued for larger renewable installations. Building a system that depends on Guarantees of origin? See how we build software for this domain, with case studies and the stack we use. [See Energy Hub](https://ordergroup.co/energy-hub/) Requirements checklist For each term we send the definition and what it requires from your software. Free, no sales call needed. Your checklist is empty. Use the plus next to a term to add it.